Tuesday was a wild night in college baseball. A pair of ranked teams from the ACC and SEC lost to the Tribe and Jackrabbits, respectively. There was yet another loss that will bring a smile to Florida fans and it involves our Border War rival.

 

William and Mary 3 #11 North Carolina 0

South Dakota State 3 #14 Arkansas 2

Kennesaw State 11 Georgia 1

Western Kentucky 5 Tennessee 4

Bryant 4 Virginia Tech 5

Tulane 15 New Orleans 16

 

Sixth ranked Florida ran Illinois State right out of McKethan Stadium stealing a Kevin O’Sullivan Era record nine bases as the Gators defeated the Redbirds 8-2.  Six different Florida base runners sprinted ahead of throws by catchers Gabe Demarco and Matt Mirabal. Meanwhile, clean-up hitter Austin Maddox added a three-run home run for the offense, while starter Hudson Randall and relievers Nick Maronde and Chas Spottswood combined to limit the ‘Birds to two earned runs. The Florida pitchers allowed no walks.

 

“We’ve been scoring runs in bunches,” Florida head coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “We haven’t really haven’t been scoring throughout all nine innings. We score three here and three in another inning and then we don’t score for the other seven innings. So, I think that it’s important for us. We’ve got guys who can run and maybe force other teams to throw more fastballs and elevate the ball a little bit. I think it’s helped us out. Certainly the last two games it has.”

 

Leadoff hitter Matt den Dekker led off the bottom half of the first inning drawing ball four on a 3-2 count. He easily stole second base to get into scoring position. Two batters later, designated hitter Preston Tucker drove him in with a single to give Florida a 1-0 lead.

 

Illinois State right-hander Brad Sorkin (0-1) began to pay close attention to the Florida runners after the Gators swiped three bases in the first two innings with throws over to first base. It didn’t help the cause.

 

Redbirds leadoff hitter Chad Hinshaw led off the top of the fourth with a nine pitch at-bat driving the final Randall offering perfectly down the left field line for a triple. Randall had not allowed a hit through three, while fanning four Redbirds. Left fielder Anthony Ruffalo followed with a ground out to first base, scoring Hinshaw to even the score at 1-1.

 

Illinois State skipper Mark Kingston made the call to the bullpen for right-hander Jacob Wielebnicki to start the bottom of the fifth.  Sorkin allowed five hits and two earned runs, while walking one.

 

Den Dekker led off the inning with a single down the right field line. The hit extended den Dekker’s hitting streak to 19 games. He wasted little time collecting his second stolen base of the evening. Tucker, who entered the game hitting four of his last seven against Miami was intentionally walked by Wielebnicki. It also would create a force. It backfired though as Wielebnicki plunked first baseman Austin Maddox on a 1-0 count to load the bases. Thompson then pounded a two-run single to left field scoring den Dekker and Tucker. Right fielder Kamm Washington followed with a single to load the bases once again for the Gators. Catcher Ben McMahan then grooved a single into second base, driving home Maddox to give Florida a 5-1 lead. 

 

Washington led the Gators with four stolen bases in a three for four offensive performance tonight. Den Dekker collected two stolen bases for Florida. He currently leads the team with six on the season. The Gators have stolen 21 bases on the year.

 

“Coach said that we were going to work on our base steals and get our jumps and it was a good night to do that, Washington said.

 

Randall (2-0) returned to the mound in the top of the sixth. However, he was hit above the left knee on a line shot to the mound by Hinshaw, who ran on to first for the infield single. O’Sullivan lifted him as he had thrown 70 pitches. Randall allowed just four hits and one earned run, while striking out five.

 

“He throws strike after strike,” O’Sullivan said of Randall. “He competes. He throws around the plate and they played good defense behind him. We didn’t make any errors tonight and we didn’t walk anybody. Anytime you don’t walk people, you’ve got a chance to play really good defense and we’ve been doing that.”

 

Left-hander Nick Maronde came on in relief. He struck out Ruffalo on a 3-2 pitch as Hinshaw was attempting to steal second. Hinshaw was cut down by McMahan’s throw to shortstop Nick Fontana at the bag for a double dip. Maronde fanned Tokarski to end the inning.

 

Florida (8-2) scored three runs in the bottom half of the sixth inning when Austin Maddox drilled a low line drive for a three-run home run to extend the Gators lead to 8-1.

 

Veteran right-hander Chas Spottswood came on in the eighth and closed out the game for the Gators. He allowed three hits and one earned run.

 

Illinois State dropped to 4-6 with the loss. The two teams will square off against tomorrow night at 6:30pm at McKethan Stadium. Sophomore Anthony DeSclafani (0-1) will start for Florida.

 

 

·         Florida has stolen 14 bases in their last two games, including nine tonight. The record for stolen bases in a single game is 12 against Auburn dating way back to 1950.

·          

·         It was another superb start by a Florida starter. Alex Panteliodis, Tommy Toledo, Brian Johnson, and Hudson Randall are among the top 25 pitchers in the Southeastern Conference by ERA. Johnson is number #25 with a 3.27 ERA. Randall lowered his to 2.33 tonight.

·         D

·         Jerico Weitzel took over at third base tonight in place of Bryson Smith. O’Sullivan said Smith’s arm is a little sore.

First it was the Jacksonville Eagles View Academy duo of Josh Adams and Austin Maddox combining to blister USF for three home runs and six RBI’s in Florida’s 6-2 season opening victory over the Bulls. This weekend, former Tampa Alonso teammates Alex Panteliodis and Tommy Toledo combined to handcuff the Miami Hurricanes with dominating pitching performances.

 

Panteliodis got the Friday night start and set the table for the Gators allowing just two hits and one earned run, while striking out eight Hurricanes batters in 5.2 innings. The southpaw picked-up SEC best (tied) third victory of the season. Panteliodis is allowing opponents to hit just .172 and has a sparkling 1.98 ERA. He has been equally impressive for Florida coming out of the pen or starting.

 

Toledo is the feel good story of the year for the Gators. A highly-regarded right-hander coming out of Alonso, Toledo started 11 games as a true freshman in 2008 finishing with a 4-4 record and 4.40 ERA. He underwent should surgery after the season and was sidelined last year due to rehab.

 

Florida head coach Kevin O’Sullivan said that Toledo earned the right to start the Gators season opener, where he pitched 3.1 shutout innings on a tight pitch count. He was relieved by Panteliodis, who also pitched 3.1 innings and picked-up the win.

 

Toledo (2-0) has pitched 13.2 innings and allowed 10 hits and three earned runs, while striking out 16. Opponents are hitting just .200 against him. The redshirt sophomore has improved with every outing, shutting down the ‘Canes for three hits and one earned run in five innings.   

 

The duo combined for two victories pitching 10.2 innings, allowing just five hits, and two earned runs, while striking out 12 Hurricanes. That’s as dominating a performance as you’ll see at Alex Rodriguez Park against Miami.

 

 

 

 

Florida 7 Miami 1.

 

It was as dominating a victory as you’ll see anybody put on a Hurricanes team in Coral Gables. Miami was flat shut down offensively. They didn’t fare much better in the field, either. Starter and Golden Spikes Award nominee Chris Hernandez was lit up by a squad that had success against him last season in two meetings. Let me give you a few things to take from this one.

 

 

The Gators collected 10 hits against Miami and left just six runners stranded.

 

Florida had been struggling with runners on base. The Gators had left either 9 or 10 runners on in games against USF (2), Sienna, UCF, and Florida State. You’d have to go back to their season opening win over USF to find a game in which they did exactly what they needed to do with regards to pushing runs across the plate. And if you remember, that was the game in which second baseman Josh Adams hit a pair of home runs and freshman Austin Maddox added a solo shot driving in all of the Florida runs.

 

One of the problems the Gators had was their approach in the batters’ box. Florida wasn’t shortening their swings and just putting the ball into play with runners on. It was frustrating to watch in the Gators loss to Florida State in Tampa last weekend. O’Sullivan was adamant in the post game that they would address the issue in preparation for Miami. It’s obvious that they did so.

 

 

Pitching dominance

 

It’s not often that a team can hold Miami to two hits and one earned run in a game, but that’s exactly what starter Alex Panteliodis and reliever Nick Maronde accomplished on Friday night. The left-hander’s also combined to strike out 15 Hurricanes. Florida will run freshman left-hander Brian Johnson out to the mound tonight against the ‘Canes. Why not? Give them another southpaw who can work ahead of batter with a live fastball and good breaking ball and let them prove they can handle it.

 

 

Fielding

 

Miami committed yet another error during Friday night’s game, raising their season total to 11. Meanwhile, Florida played flawlessly in the field, which is a terrific accomplishment considering there are new faces at third base, short, behind the plate, and in two outfield positions. It’s especially impressive to note that freshmen hold down positions at short (Nolan Fontana) and catcher (Mike Zunino) and one more when reserve Kamm Washington comes in for defensive purposes or gets the start.

 

 

One area to clean-up

 

Florida had a pair of base runners thrown out. In the second inning, right fielder Daniel Pigott was caught too far off the bag as Hernandez threw over to first baseman Rony Rodriguez, who fired over to shortstop Stephen Perez for the out. Pigott was the Gators first base runner fo the game. Adams was caught in the ninth inning moving from first to second.

 

 

 

 

 

The 5^th ranked Florida baseball team will face 10^th ranked Miami tomorrow night in a three game series at Alex Rodriguez Park. The Hurricanes new digs were largely due to a 3.9 million dollar gift from New York Yankees third baseman way back in 2002. The University of Miami athletic department spent several years raising additional monies for the 14 million dollar project.  

 

Florida has already played five games against state opponents and they have fared very well with a 4-1 record, including a four game winning streak over USF (3) and UCF (1). The Gators are coming off a 10-5 loss to Florida State on Tuesday night at the Florida Four in Tampa.

 

 

Series and coaches records:

 

Miami leads overall 123-95; 75-36 in Coral Gables

 

It’s interesting to note that in their official release, Miami suggests that it has only 122 wins over the Gators. Now, if Florida could just get Georgia to back off one of those wins in football, right?

 

The schools played five times last season with all of those games played at McKethan Stadium. Miami swept a three game series early in the season, while Florida won the two most important games in the NCAA Regionals to advance to the NCAA Super Regional.

 

Florida head coach Kevin O’Sullivan is 81-37 (.686). He is 3-5 against Miami. Jim Morris is in his 17^th year at Miami. He has a record of 739-279-3 (.723) in Coral Gables. Morris is in his 32^nd season overall and has a record of 1,374-564-4 (.707).

 

 

Pitching:

 

 

Pitching and defense is the recipe to winning baseball. Fans will get to see plenty of both in this series and they won’t have to wait very long. It starts on Friday night when Golden Spikes Award nominee Chris Hernandez takes the mound for the Hurricanes. Hernandez is 19-5 with a 3.53 ERA during his career at Miami. Two years ago, Hernandez went six innings and allowed one earned run, while striking out seven Florida batters. Last season, Florida had success against Hernandez. He went 1-1 against the Gators pitching 11.1 innings, while allowing 13 hits, 10 earned runs. He walked four and struck out nine. This season, opponents are hitting just .154 against Hernandez. He has struck out 14 batters this season.

 

Just as Tommy Toledo got the Florida start after completing a successful rehabilitation from Tommy John surgery, Miami junior Eric Erickson pitched the season opener for the Hurricanes after completing rehab from Tommy John surgery, which caused him to miss last season. Erickson pitched 5 2/3 innings and allowed just two hits, while striking out six Rutgers batters. He fanned nine batters last weekend in the Hurricanes win over Manhattan.  

 

Right-hander Jason Santana will get the Sunday start for the Hurricanes versus Toledo. Santana was lit-up by Manhattan last weekend and saw his ERA balloon to 10.80. A year ago, Santana was lit up in the NCAA Regionals against Florida. He pitched three innings, while allowing four hits and two earned runs.

 

Alex Panteliodis and Tommy Toledo were big signings for the Florida program out of an up-and-coming Alonso high program. They haven’t disappointed. Panteliodis needs a good outing against the ‘Canes. Last season, he pitched 10.1 innings against Miami allowing 16 hits and seven earned runs, while striking out seven. In two starts, he has one loss and one no decision.

 

Toledo struggled a bit as a freshman, which was the result of injury which required Tommy John surgery. As I mentioned, he opened the season for the Gators with an impressive outing against USF. In fact, Toledo has improved with every outing.

 

Brian Johnson got off to a tremendous start. The true freshman was sensational against USF with a shutout performance. He allowed his first earned run in a relief outing against Florida State on Tuesday.  He will get the Saturday start for the Gators.

 

Panteliodis, Johnson, and Toledo throw strikes and work ahead of the hitters. It’s also been interesting to see watch Zunino set-up and see how effective their location has been. They’re not perfect mind you, but have been very impressive in the first two weeks of the young season.  

 

 

Match-ups:

 

Sophomore LHP Alex Panteliodis (2-0) 2.45 vs Junior LHP- Chris Hernandez (1-0) 1.64

Freshman LHP Brian Johnson (1-0) 2.84 vs Senior RHP Jason Santana (0-1) 10.80

Sophomore RHP Tommy Toledo (1-0) 2.08 vs Junior LHP Eric Erickson (1-0) 2.31

 

The Florida bullpen might have taken a big leap forward on Tuesday when Greg Larson and Nick Maronde pitched very well against Florida State. Larson shut out the red-hot Seminoles in two innings of no-hit work, striking out a pair of FSU hitters. Maronde was equally impressive fanning two Seminoles in one inning of no-hit work.

 

Senior left-hander Kevin Chapman, junior right-hander Justin Poovey, and freshman left-hander Steven “Paco” Rodriguez have combined in nine relief appearances (8.6 innings) without allowing an earned run.

 

 

Defense

 

The Gators would seemingly have a huge advantage defensively. Miami has committed 10 errors in their games, led by second baseman Scott Lawson and David Villasuso, who will probably be the designated hitter in the Florida series. He was replaced by Rony Rodriguez at first base. Eight different Miami players have committed errors. The Hurricanes have a fielding percentage of .965. Meanwhile, Florida has committed only four errors on the season for a .983 fielding percentage. The only Florida infielders who have committed errors are third baseman Bryson Smith and catcher Mike Zunino. Outfielders Kamm Washington and Tyler Thompson have committed the other two errors.  

 

 

Offense

 

 

The Hurricanes are led at the plate by right fielder Chris Peleaz (.650), left fielder Michael Broad (.429), and catcher Yasmani Grandal (.385). Villasuso and third baseman Harold Martinez lead the power parade for Miami. Villasuso has three home runs and 13 RBI’s on the season, while Martinez has three home runs and 10 RBI’s. Shortstop Stephen Perez has stolen five bases for the Hurricanes.

 

The Gators are led by leadoff hitter Matt den Dekker (.448) and two-hole hitter Josh Adams (.391). O’Sullivan has said they are the catalysts to the Florida offense. Get them on base and allow Preston Tucker, Austin Maddox, Bryson Smith or Tyler Thompson to drive them home. It hasn’t happened as often as they would like. Florida is leaving far too many runners stranded. I like catcher Mike Zunino (.333) hitting in the nine hole. He swings a solid bat and should see a lot of good pitches with den Dekker and Adams on deck and in the hole respectively.

 

Florida also has a lot of options with Ben McMahan (.444), the Pigott brothers, and Kamm Washington (.308) all capable of starting or challenging in the pinch-hitter role.

 

 

 

Analysis:

 

Florida and Miami are two very talented baseball teams. There were holes to fill on both squads. I’d say that more questions surrounded Miami. It’s early, but head coach Jim Morris has seemingly found some answers. For either team to win, they have to play solid fundamental baseball as they’ve been taught for many years. This is big time college baseball at its finest. It’s a tremendous prep course for SEC and ACC play. You always hope the freshmen and first year players don’t get rattled in this big game atmosphere. Most have been on big stages before though.

 

So, who gets the edge?

 

The pitching has been terrific with a few exceptions for both of these teams. I’d call it a draw. The Gators got to Hernandez last season and have had some success against Santana. Miami has had some success against Panteliodis. Both Toledo and Erickson are just getting back from rehab. Both bullpens have been roughed-up by the opponent.

 

I’d give Gators the edge defensively. I discussed the numerous holes Miami had to fill. Thiose players are ahead of the curve offensively, but still have to improve defensively. Has Miami improved since the start of the season defensively? There are always adjustments that have to be made in opposing ballparks. And two of these games are under the lights. Obviously it’s a work in progress for Miami. Florida will have to adjust as well. We’ll see how this plays out.

 

Miami gets the offensive edge. The Hurricanes are hitting just .318 on the season, while Florida is hitting .333. Florida has faced better competition. So, why do the ‘Canes get the edge? Simply put, they have accomplished more with runners on base.

 

The Gators have stranded 52 runners in six games. Their best effort by far was leaving just four on board in a season opening win over USF. Since, then Florida has left either 9 or 10 runners in every game. This has been a key concern for O’Sullivan.

 

“One of the big things that we pride ourselves on the first couple of years is situational hitting,” he said after Tuesday night’s 10-5 loss to Florida State. “We just have not hit our stride yet in that way. We’ve got to put the ball into play with runners on third and less than two outs and we haven’t done that quite yet and I don’t know why we’re pulling off with two strikes and our heads aren’t staying on the ball, but that’s certainly one thing that we’re going to attack tomorrow and correct for sure.”

 

Florida must improve correct this issue. You can get away with that against bad to average teams. If you strand base runners against clubs like Florida State and Miami, you’ll most often lose.

 

Spring Practice Dates (Start / Finish):

Alabama - March 12 / April 17
Arkansas - March 30 / April 24
Auburn - March 24 / April 19 (Spring Game – April 17)
Florida - March 17 / April 10
Georgia - March 4 / April 10
Kentucky - March 31 / April 24
LSU - Feb. 26 / March 27
Ole Miss - March 27 / April 17
Mississippi State - March 23 / April 17
South Carolina - March 16 / April 10
Tennessee - March 18 / April 17
Vanderbilt - March 17 / April 10